Don't Throw This Away
by keiriinu
Summary: Cheriss Ansel moves to a new city after the death of her mother. When her father finds out about her super powers he abandons her. Hearing this, Warren's mother agrees to take Cheriss in. Slowly but surely a bond forms between her and the hothead. WarrenO
1. Prologue

"_Mom, wake up! Please. . ." Cheriss cried as she shook her mother's corpse that lay on the floor of the living room. The lights of the ambulance outside shined through the windows as her father ran outside to greet them. Cheriss watched as they tried to bring her mother back to no avail. . ._

Cheriss woke up and sat straight up on her bed, cold sweat running down her face. She had been having the same dream of her mother's death every night since the night she died. She drew her knees to her chest and hugged her arms around them as she thought back to what happened after her mother's death.

"_Do we really have to move," Cheriss asked her father softly as she finished packing the last of her things. "Mom's funeral was a week ago. . .Can't we stay a bit longer?"_

"_No we can't, Cheriss, you know that," her father replied, "your mother already transferred your school information, didn't she?"_

"_Yeah. Daddy—Mommy was the one who wanted to move, not us! Are you doing this for mommy?" _

"_I'm doing this for us. We need to get away from here, it has too many bad memories. . ." Cheriss frowned at her father as she thought 'maybe I like the bad memories.' "What's the name of this new high school you'll be attending anyway?" Her father asked. "Oh um. . ." Cheriss's father didn't know that she had super powers and would be a superhero one day. Her mother had always kept it secret from him of what she was, and now Cheriss must do the same. "I believe it's Oakland High School?" She said in an unsure voice. "Are you positive?" He asked. She didn't say anything but nodded in annoyance as she threw her last bag in the back of the jeep. _

"Ugh, I start that new high school tomorrow!" She turned over on her stomach as she groaned into her pillow out of frustration. She then looked over at her nightstand to gaze at the picture of her and her mother in the dark. She suddenly felt peaceful as she dozed back off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1

Cheriss heard her alarm clock go off at 6:00 AM in the morning, but instead of getting up she disabled the alarm and rolled over on her side and stared at the wall for a long period of time. A couple of minutes later a knock came at her door, then her father called from behind the door. "Cheriss? Cheriss, are you up? Get up!"

"I AM UP!" She shouted back at him as she lethargically pulled herself out of bed. "He can be so annoying sometimes." She began to drag her feet across the carpeted floor as she walked to her bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. She stared at herself in the mirror as her pacific blue eyes stared back at her. She then brushed her brunette hair out of her face and tied it back into a ponytail as she began to clean herself up.

"What should I wear today?" She said to herself and she clicked her tongue behind her teeth. She put on a pair of jeans and a red tank-top and slid on a pair of black-and-white-checkered vans. She grabbed her bag but ran to the bathroom one last time before leaving her room to examine herself once more. She decided to wear her hair down and brushed it down as best as she could, then tucked her hair behind her ears. She ran down the stairs and out the door before her father could wish her a good day. She didn't mean to be rude, she was just nervous about her first day at Sky High as a transfer student.

She waited at the bus stop as a girl wearing a green sweatshirt and jeans came up with a boy with brown hair and eyes walked with her. The yellow bus finally pulled up and Cheriss reluctantly walked onto the bus to see a woman sitting in the bus drivers' seat. "You're a new face I've never seen before." She said as she examined Cheriss. "Um, I just moved here, so. . ."

"Well, I'm Shelby! Nice to meet ya, now go and take a seat." Cheriss found a seat in the back of the bus behind the girl and the boy again. The girl she had seen with the boy turned around and said, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Layla, and this is Will." She then turned to the boy as to show Cheriss what she meant. "Hey, I'm Cheriss. How long have you been attending Sky High?"

A black kid with glasses turned around and said, "This will be our Sophomore year, what year are you in?"

"Same as you."

"So where did you come from? I'm Magenta. The kid with glasses name is Ethan, and this blond right here is Zack."

"Thanks for clearing that up Magenta. Um, I came a long way from here." The rest of the way Cheriss didn't speak a word, instead she nervously fumbled with her fingers as she stared down at the ground.

Cheriss was greeted by the principal of Sky High as soon as she stepped off the bus. "Good morning Miss Ansel. I am Principal Powers and I will be your principal here at Sky High for the remainder of your years here. Please come with me so I can get you settled." Cheriss didn't speak a word but she did as she was told and followed Principal Powers.

"It says here that your powers are telekinesis and telepathy. It also says that you are able to fly. Is this correct?" The principal asked as she stared at Cheriss over her glasses. "Yes." She replied. "So tell me why your family moved here Miss Ansel."

"My mother wanted to move here, but she died before we were finished moving. My father decided to continue with the move to get away from the memories." Cheriss then clenched her jaw as tightly as she could and stared intensely at the ground. "I'm sorry to here that, Miss Ansel." Principal Powers said with some sympathy in her voice. She then gave Cheriss her schedule and escorted her to her first class. Cheriss glanced around the room for any open seats away from people but then she spotted Will in the back as he motioned to her. She loosened up and sighed in relief and she walked over to him and sat down next to him."Enjoying your first day of Sky High yet?" He asked with a smile. "Not really," she replied as she took her books out from her bag.

Finally as noon rolled around it was lunchtime and Cheriss had no idea where to sit, but Layla found her and invited her to sit with them. Cheriss agreed and walked with Layla to the table, she then set her bag down next to her and set her tray on the table as everyone scooted to make a spot for her to sit down. Cheriss looked up and noticed that there was another additional member added to their group of friends. "Who's that?" She whispered to Layla. Layla looked up and pointed her fork towards the guy she was questioning about. "Oh, that's Warren." Warren looked up at Layla from reading his book as his brown and red-streaked hair fell into his face and his dark eyes went from Layla to Cheriss. "Warren, this is Cheriss! She just moved here."

"Pleasure." Warren said with no excitement in his voice as he got up. He swung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the lunchroom. "Is he always like that?" Cheriss asked. "Oh, he's probably just going to go see his girlfriend." Magenta said with a smirk.

"Girlfriend?"

"Yeah, he has a girlfriend. Her name is Kate Daniels. She's a cryokinetic, and Warren is a pyrokinetic. Pretty cool, huh?" Layla said. "Yeah, I guess. . ." Cheriss wondered off.

"How was your first day at the new school?" Cheriss's father asked as she walked in the house and started up the stairs. "Oh, it was OK, I met new people." She called down from the top of the stairs. "Is that so? What are they like?"

"Um very nice! Yeah, they're nice! There's this one guy though and he's a bit more quiet and not as friendly as the others."

"He might just be shy."

"I highly doubt that, dad. Not everyone is all nice and pleasant, you know." Cheriss replied. "So what all did you do at school?" _Crap,_ Cheriss thought. _What do I tell him? He'd freak if he knew I had super powers! _"Why are you asking so many questions anyway, huh dad? You're so annoying!" She yelled as she went into her room and locked herself in. "There is something seriously wrong with that girl. . ." Her father said to himself as he left out the house to head back to work.

_(**A/N:** The reason that I didn't put Ron Wilson as the bus driver is because at the end of the movie Will states he falls into radioactive waste and works for the mayor of the city. I'm sorry that the story is a bit dragging, but I promise it gets better, and all of this has a point later on for the story!)_


	3. Chapter 2

That night Cheriss tossed and turned in her bed miserably, feeling guilty about not being able to tell her father about her super powers and the fact she had to lie to him about the high school she went to. By the time morning came she had dark rings under her eyes. She sleepily washed her face and brushed her teeth, and didn't feel like looking for anything good to wear. She threw on a pair of white fleece pants with a pink fleece top and slid her vans on as she walked out the door. It wasn't until she was at Sky High that she had realized she left her bag at home. She groaned and already knew it'd be a bad day.

Cheriss kept falling asleep in her classes and got scolded by all her teachers for the rest of the day until lunchtime. "I can finally get some sleep without being bothered!" She yawned as she rested her head on the table and started to doze off. "What's the matter with her?" Warren asked in a nonchalant voice as he took a seat next to Will. "We don't know, she's been like this all day," Ethan replied. "That's great information, Popsicle." Warren answered back. "Hey. . .Cheriss. . .Cherriss," Layla called out as she poked the girl repeatedly. Cheriss lifted her head and ran her fingers through her brunette hair as she stared around at everyone at the table. "_What?"_ She questioned Layla in an irritated voice.

"I was going to ask if you could move over."

"Oh, sorry, yeah. ." Cheriss yawned as she moved over and rested her head back on the table. "What's wrong?" Layla asked. "I didn't get any sleep last night."

"Why not?"

"I have a guilty conscious on my mind."

"You have a guilty conscious? And what could you have done?" Warren asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice almost as if to say he didn't believe she could do anything that would make her feel guilty. "Mind your own business hothead." Cheriss mumbled under her breath as she began to doze off. Warren disregarded her comment as if he didn't hear it and began reading. "You aren't going to see your girlfriend today?" Will asked. "No. She's being dramatic and I don't like dealing with stupid issues." Warren replied, not keeping his eyes off the page of the book. "Are you worried?" Magenta asked Warren, but he didn't reply to her question.

"Cheriss, you forgot your bag today--" Cheriss's father called from upstairs as he heard the door close. "Yeah, I know that." Cheriss answered back. "I went to take it to you to your school but the front office said that they didn't have anyone enlisted in the school under the name 'Cheriss Ansel.'" Cheriss panicked at this and sat down at the end of the stairs. She rested her head on the side of the wall as she thought of something good to say. "They probably haven't updated since we got here. It's probably not like my old school was—up-to-date with everything, you know." Cheriss answered. "Yeah, but it's still a bit weird. . ." Her father trailed off. Cheriss heard the moving around of furniture upstairs then she turned around and looked up the stairs with a confused look. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm trying to move this wardrobe into the spare bedroom," her father grunted. Just as Cheriss began to turn around her father lost his grip on the wardrobe and it came falling down the stairs at Cheriss. "Cheriss!" He called. Without thinking Cheriss used her powers to fly out of the way and used her telekinesis to stop the wardrobe from running into the wall in mid-air and calmly set it down. Realizing that her father had just seen what she had done, she lowered herself down and began to sprint out of the house, but he grabbed her by her wrist and pushed her back into the house.

"What. . .was that?" he asked. "I'm sorry dad, I wanted to tell you. . .But I promised my mother I wouldn't because she told me you didn't approve in such things. I can't help what I am, daddy. I have super powers." She took a deep breath and let it out, waiting for his reply. Cheriss's father grabbed at his heart as if he could have a heart attack any minute and clumsily took a step back. "You're. . ." He started off. "I don't go to Oakland High, dad. . .I go to a school in the sky called Sky High for other people like me, with powers. . ." His eyes grew wide as he stared at nothing in particular. "You think I'm a freak, don't you. . .?" Cheriss asked sadly as her eyes began to swell up with tears. "No, honey, no. I'm just. . .Shocked." He finally replied a couple minutes later.

They talked about it together for a while and Cheriss started to feel better, thinking her father had accepted her better than she thought he was. Cheriss showered and washed up later that night and tucked herself under her covers. She felt relieved and now knew she could live happily with her father without any secrets and she dozed off with a small smile creeping on her face.


	4. Chapter 3

Cheriss pulled herself out of bed and stretched as she stared out from her window at the rising sun. She threw on a skirt and a green t-shirt with some heels and headed downstairs. "Daddy?" She called out as she slowly picked up her bed next to the door. ". . .Daddy?" She searched around the house for him but there was no sign. "I guess he had to go to work earlier today," she shrugged it off as she left out the house, locking the door behind her.

"You're smiling more than usual today," Layla stated as she caught up with Cheriss in the hallway. "Well, I'm happier today," she replied with a little laugh. Cheriss leaned against the lockers as the gang chit-chatted before the bell rings. "You're in my way," Warren told Cheriss as he came up. "There's a more polite way to tell me to move you know," Cheriss said as she looked him up and down. "Okay, then how about this—move." Warren glared down at her in annoyance. "Fine, fine." Cheriss then moved out of the way to let the hothead get to his locker. "I'm going with you, you know," she told Warren as he began to walk away.

"When did I say it was OK to follow me?"

"You didn't, but we DO have hero history together, unless you forgot."

"Oh yeah. . ." He trailed off. He allowed Cheriss to walk with him but he didn't look at her or speak a word the entire time, making things awkward. "Why are you so dressed up anyway?" He finally asked as she sat down next to him. "This isn't dressed up, it was just lying around."

"Uh huh, doesn't look like it."

"Oh, I don't care what you think it looks like." She then nudged Warren with her shoulder hard enough to knock his arm off the table. "Never do that again," he warned as his hand began to glow. "Geese, just chill, why don't you?" Cheriss rolled her eyes.

Cheriss slowly sat down at the table and glanced from each and everyone of them. "There's Magenta. . .Zack, Ethan, Will, Layla. . .Hey you guys, where's Warren?" She inquired. "He said he had had enough of you today so he decided to skip out on lunch." Magenta said with raised eyebrows before she began to take a sip of her water. "Oh please, I've had enough of him." But for the rest of the lunch Cheriss felt bad, thinking she had really ticked Warren off earlier that day.

Finally before school was ending she found Warren and caught up with him. "Hey, HEY!" She called out as she ran beside him. "These heels are hard to run in, you could have at least slowed down!" She cried as she took her heels off and walked with him. "What do you want?" He asked. "Um. . ." she began, "I just wanted to apologize for earlier today. . .I hate it when people are mad at me." Her eyes concentrated on the flame tattoos on his arms to his chest then his lips then her gaze met his eyes, which weren't looking at her. Noticing that she was staring at him, Warren threw her a glance before looking ahead once more. "Don't bug me about it. You didn't do anything wrong." He then walked away and Cheriss felt a whole lot better knowing that she didn't upset him.

Cheriss got home to the empty house. Her dad hadn't come home from work to greet her from school either. "He must just be busy today," she told herself. Cheriss didn't get to bed until late that night, but even in the late hours of the night her father never came in. "I must have not heard him when he came in or something. . .I'll check in on him." Cheriss exited her room and slowly walked down the hall to her dad's room. "Dad. . .Are you there?" She called, but she got no reply. She figured he was asleep so she slowly opened up the door.

_(**A/N:** Sorry for cutting it off so short at the end! I think I want to leave you in suspense -that is if you enjoy this fanfic ohohoho- I'll be writing more later.)_


	5. Chapter 4

Cheriss stepped inside and looked around her father's room with wide eyes. His room was empty; literally empty. The only thing that seemed to be left was his furniture. All of his clothes and anything that he might have had that was expensive was gone. He didn't even leave a note or anything—he had abandoned her because of her super powers. She slowly stepped backwards until she hit the wall in the hallway behind her, then she slid down on the floor and fell over on her side and cried the hardest she had ever cried. She had recently lost her mother, and now her father.

Cheriss walked outside, leaving the front door open, not caring if anyone came in and robbed her because she couldn't afford to live there and she knew it. "Cheriss, you aren't wearing any shoes! Are you seriously considering going to school in just your pajamas?" Will asked as she walked next to him. Cheriss didn't answer him; she didn't answer anyone. She couldn't speak, she couldn't eat, all she could do was feel sorry for herself. The more she thought about her father and how he abandoned her it made her feel worse, and tears would roll down her face, even if her eyes did sting for crying too much.

She didn't stop at Warren's locker with the rest to talk to him, she didn't need his sarcasm at the moment. Warren passed Cheriss on his way to his locker and stopped to turn around. Her eyes were red and puffy and he could tell she had been crying. The pyrokinetic wondered for a minute but decided to ignore it and continue on to his locker. "Warren, did you see Cheriss? There is something seriously wrong with her," Layla said, worry in her voice and in her face. "Well she won't tell us what wrong until she wants to if she ever does, so there's not point in bothering her." Warren replied as he shut his locker and went to class. "But I can't," Layla began before Will cut her off. "Look Layla, Warren's right. If Cheriss wanted us to know what was wrong she'd have told us."

In her first class Cheriss was sent to Principal Powers's office because of her bazaar behavior. "Tell me what's wrong." Principal Powers demanded as Cheriss took a seat in a chair adjacent from Principal Powers. "My father. . ." Cheriss began calmly, but she couldn't hold it in and began to cry again. "He abandoned me because he found out about my super powers. I have nowhere to go." Principal Powers reached out for Cheriss's hand and began to speak. "I'm sure there will be plenty of families that would be willing to adopt a teenage girl with super powers, especially families with members of the family with super powers." As soon as she said that a woman walked in. The woman had long, straight brown hair that touched her shoulders and deep-set eyes. She was also very slender and had pointed features. She was beautiful.

"Hello Principal Powers. Warren forgot his bag so I decided to bring it to him—Am I. . .interrupting something?" She asked as she slowly handed the bag to the principal. "No you aren't Miss Peace, we were just discussing how there are families that are willing to adopt teenagers with super powers."

"Why would she need to be taken in?" Warren's mother asked. "You see, her mother died not too long ago and her father has recently abandoned her upon finding out about her super powers." Principal Powers whispered into her ear. "Oh, that's terrible," the mother looked at the girl with great sympathy in her eyes. Miss Peace's eyes widened as a smile crept over her face and she stared at Principal Powers. "What is it, Angie?" The principal asked. "I could do it! She can live with me! I'll take care of her!"

Cheriss turned around in shock. "Are you serious. . .You'll take me?"

"Of course I'm serious! We have a spare bedroom in the house anyway and I had been meaning to put it up for rent, but now I don't have to worry about renting out rooms if I can have someone to occupy it! What do you say?" Angie's smile got bigger as she anticipated Cheriss's answer. "All right, I'll do it!" Cheriss nodded. She was glad that someone wanted her.

"It's good that you came along when you did, Miss Peace." The principal smiled. "Wait a minute. . ._Miss Peace?_ As in Warren Peace's mother?" Cheriss asked in awe. "That's right! Well, I'll be seeing you later on this afternoon. Just tell Warren you met me and I invited you over. I want to break the news to him myself!" She smiled at Cheriss again before walking out of the office.

Principal Powers refused to let Cheriss go back to class in just her pajamas. She escorted Cheriss back to her house to pack all of her things worth value, then they went to the Peaces' resident where she put her suitcases and bags down in the spare room. The walls were a violet color and the bed sheets were a soft golden tone. The room was very peaceful to be in. Cheriss pulled on a thin-knitted sweater and jeans with converse sneakers and headed back to the school with Principal Powers.

By the time she had gotten back it was lunchtime, so she went straight into the lunchroom and sat at the table with the rest of the gang. "You aren't in your pajamas anymore. Are you okay?" Layla asked as soon as Cheriss sat down. "Yeah, I'm fine now. . .I'll tell you guys later what was up with me earlier, maybe tomorrow."

"Why tomorrow?" Will asked. "I can't say why. . .She made me promise not to speak a word of it."

"'She'?" Warren repeated. "Yes, 'she.'" Cheriss answered. "Okay, whatever." Warren got up from the table and walked away. "He likes to walk away a lot," Cheriss replied. "Why's he like that anyway? So mean all the time?"

"Well. . .he never really had a father-figure in his life." Magenta said. "Why not?" Cheriss asked. "His father is Baron Battle, and Warren's mother is a superhero but his dad is a super VILLIAN. Will's dad put his dad in jail."

"Wouldn't he be bitter to Will though? Those two are best friends."

"He was bitter to me at first, trust me. By the end of my freshmen year though we ended up best friends." Will said. "Ah. I see." Cheriss said as she took a bite out of her burger.

"Warren! You have to take me with you!" Cheriss yelled as she ran to catch up with him. "Whoa, whoa. Hold on—Why do I have to take you home with me?"

"Your mother told me to tell you to. She was in the office earlier bringing your bag you left at home."

"Fine. But just because you're coming with me don't think it's OK to talk the whole way."

"OK."

The front door opened as Warren walked in and Cheriss followed. "Did you bring Cheriss? Oh good, you did!"

"What's the meaning of this?" Warren asked as he took a seat in a chair. "Well. . ." Warren's mother began. She then proceeded to tell Warren about what has happened to Cheriss. "So I agreed to take her in and raise her until the end of her high school years." She said slowly, looking at Warren. Warren began to look irritated and annoyed at the same time. Cheriss could tell what he was thinking, he was thinking _'great, now I have to deal with her everyday of my life until high school is over with.'_

_(**A/N:** I revised chapter four because I was told that the whole adopting-concept wasn't working too well with the story and I'd like to thank kaypgirl for her advice.)_


	6. Chapter 5

_(**A/N:** Okay I appreciate everyone adding my story to their story alert list but I'd like it if you could leave me some reviews sometimes, too. Thank you!)_

"So she's going to be. . .living here?" He said. "That's right. . ." his mother replied. Warren clenched his jaw tight and his left leg began to shake up and down. "Well I have work to get ready for." He then went to his room to throw on his black-and-red tank top and a pair of the jeans he used to work in. He tied his hair back and left out the house without a word. "Well I think he took that well," Angie said as she opened the refrigerator and started looking for things to cook. "_That_ was taking it well?" Cheriss said, her voice a bit shaky from what had just happened. She had never seen Warren look like that.

When Warren got to the Paper Lantern he noticed that Will and Layla were there, probably out on a date. Normally Warren would have stopped to say sarcastic to them, but he was still trying to take in everything with Cheriss and walked swiftly pass them without even a glance.

"Warren," Will called. "What's up? You didn't even say anything to us!" Warren stopped and threw Will a glance over his shoulders, sighed, and walked over to him and Layla. "What do you want, Stronghold?" He asked. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Warren said. "Come on man, you can tell me."

"Yeah Warren, you can tell us anything," Layla added in. Warren knew that if he didn't tell they would just keep bugging him about it so he finally caved in and told them about Cheriss. "What's wrong with Cheriss?" Layla asked. "I don't want her living with me and my mom, that's what's wrong with her." Warren then walked off and didn't speak to Layla or Will the rest of the time they were there, but he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Cheriss will be living with him.

When Warren got home Cheriss was already asleep, but his mother was waiting for him at the kitchen table. "Warren. . .I know you're upset that I made this decision without asking for your say-so in the matter, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do," she began. Warren sat down next to her and folded his arms across his chest and waited for her to continue. "So? Say something." She said. "You're right, I am upset about that. You can't just go off making decisions like this. Did you stop to think how this would make me feel?" She sighed and looked down. "No. . .I didn't think Warren. I never do, huh? But please just try to make her life easier, she's going through a hard time."

"You always have to be the superhero, don't you? But fine—I'll go easy on her." Warren got up from the table and started to go into his room. "Also Warren," his mother called after him, "you'll have to be taking her to school with you from now on." Warren stopped in the middle of the hallway and let out a growl of disapproval before starting back to his room. Angie let out a small smile before turning off all the lights and heading to bed herself.


End file.
